Who's Ranting?!

Sunday, 15 February 2015

This film is purely actor-led. The scope of the story is limited and it lasts for less than 90 minutes. But the performances will blow your mind.

Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is a student jazz drummer, who has been accepted at a prestigious music school, where he joins the studio band, led by Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). What initially looks like a tough gig, turns out to be a complete nightmare for Neiman. Fletcher is not a hard task-master; he is a complete tyrant who continually abuses his students in a bid to get them to reach perfection. But in Neiman, he unleashes a rare quality: extreme perseverance to excel no matter what.

While Miles Teller is brilliant, this film belongs to J.K. Simmons. He is nothing short of genius and within minutes of him appearing on screen, you completely forget all the comic roles he has played in the past. He owns the character of Terence Fletcher and is a scary, horrible man, with no limits to his tyranny.

Whiplash is an excellent film, with brevity and supreme editing on its side, and performances that have been nominated for various awards. Very highly recommended.

Saturday, 17 January 2015

Bennett Miller isn't a name I'd instantly recognise; but name the films he has directed (Capote, Moneyball) and I'd sit up and listen. Even so, nothing could have prepared me for the excellence of Foxcatcher.
Based on a true story, the film revolves around John E. du Pont, the millionaire wrestling enthusiast, who, in 1986, recruited two wrestling champion brothers, Mark and Dave Schultz, to train for and coach a wrestling team for the National, World and Olympic championships. During the course of the story, we watch the megalomaniac du Pont manipulate everyone he comes across, seemingly in a bid to win his mother's respect (which he never receives), and build and destroy the brothers Schultz.Foxcatcher is being described as a crime drama, because of how this story ends, both in real life and in the film, but I see it as a psycho-drama that is completely unrelenting in its delivery, with not a moment of comfort or calm. It is a straight line of stress from the moment it starts, to the moment it ends. And in that, I think it's a masterpiece, much like Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (2012).

This film will also be for ever known for its career-defining performances, by Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum. Each one of them has gone out of his way to deliver outstanding work. Carell, who is almost always the lovable character in his films, is utterly deplorable and hateful as du Pont, while Ruffalo and Tatum have given their all in every scene, and acted with their faces and bodies, as much as with the words they deliver. It is truly an exemplary set of performances.

Monday, 12 January 2015

I find Alejandro González Iñárritu, the very famous Mexican film maker, a bit hit-and-miss. Over the years I have found each one of his new films a bit less impressive than his previous film. So Biutifulwas a little less than Babel, which was a little less than 21 Grams, which was a little less than the brilliant Amores Perros.

But his latest, weirdly titled, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Innocence), is pretty impressive. Starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone (along with Zach Galifianakis and Naomi Watts), the film follows a washed up Hollywood actor, once famous for a superhero character called Birdman, who is now trying to revive his career by directing and acting in a Broadway play. While the story is a character study of the three main players, it's actually the acting and the very imaginative single-shot style of filming that makes this film worth watching.

Emma Stone is excellent, Edward Norton is mesmerising and Michael Keaton is, well, just very, very surprisingly brilliant. The single-shot style is cleverly written and beautifully executed. I'm a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948), but technological and editing advancements of the last seven decades mean that this film stands head and shoulders above Hitchcock's, in this aspect.

Birdman is interesting, entertaining, and very well-made. It deserves to be seen.

Monday, 5 January 2015

The night before foreman Ivan Locke is meant to supervise the largest concrete pour in Europe, he gets a piece of news that can wreck his home and alter his entire life. The film takes place entirely inside the car, as Locke drives from Birmingham to London to take responsibility for his mistakes, while potentially ending his career and his marriage. The entire story unfolds as he speaks to his boss and colleagues, his wife, his sons, and other characters on a series of phone calls. Through these conversations, we learn practically everything we need to know about Locke, his life, his personality, his demons and his desires.

Though we hear the highly emotive voices of Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott and various others on these phone calls, it is Tom Hardy, as the sole actor on camera, who blows your mind. Sporting a beard and a soft Welsh accent, Hardy acts entirely through his face and his voice, with not much room for body movement as he sits behind the wheel for 85 minutes. His performance is flawless, absolutely perfect and he wins his audience from the very first phone conversation.

The film is written and directed by Steven Knight, and in my opinion, this may be his best work so far. It's difficult to say if this is Tom Hardy's best performance because most of his performances have been exceptional so far!

This film is worth watching for its unique storytelling technique, for its performances and for the punch it packs with brevity.

Monday, 24 November 2014

Good, tight script (admittedly with some convenient twists, that are not entirely factual).

Excellent direction and editing.

The story of a genius man, set against his most spectacular achievements, and ending on the injustices of society.

Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, the father of computer science, and the man responsible for breaking German ciphers that eventually led to the Allies winning WW2. The same man was persecuted for being gay and was eventually offered the 'solution' of chemical castration to avoid jail time. The greatest tragedy is actually that he received a 'royal pardon' for his illegal sexual preferences as late as 2013, 59 years after his suicide. How could it take the government this long to recognise Turing's work? And even worse, isn't a pardon more of an insult to his memory, rather than an acknowledgement of the atrocities committed against him in the 1950s?

Still, as a film, The Imitation Game is strong, interesting and very well-made with brilliant performances by all the actors. A must-watch!

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

There are few films I hate with this much passion...Prometheus (2012) was one and now Interstellar joins the ranks.

The trailer wasn't half convincing, but Matthew McConnaughey (lately) and Christopher Nolan (for ever) don't make mistakes. So, I thought, at the very least this will be an entertaining film. WRONG!

The first hour is interesting, well-scripted, with good character build-up. It's the future and a former NASA pilot agrees to lead a mission to find a habitable planet, now that life on the "post-blight" Earth is less and less sustainable.

The second hour is infuriating, clichéd and full of terrible sermons about love. Basically Michael Caine's and Anne Hathaway's characters appear and spout the most inane lines for the next hour. Characters marked 'X' die, characters marked 'Y' turn out to be evil.

The third hour, besides being an hour too many, pretends that scientific theory can save the film by confusing the audience. All it does is get awfully boring and dull. By this time the audience is past caring and no number of beautifully crafted planets can save the contorted plot and the useless script. As the film nears completion, logic is flung out the window and ridiculous becomes insane.

Saturday, 1 November 2014

Penned and directed by Dan Gilroy, who wrote The Bourne Legacy(2012) before this, Nightcrawler stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed. It's a story about a man down on his luck, who discovers an unusual way to make money through LA's crime journalism network. The entire film rests on Gyllenhaal's shoulders and this is one of his better performances. From his eagerness, to his obsession, from his need to please, to his need to control, he stays unpredictable and interesting through the film's twists and turns.

Despite the strong acting, and the engaging subject matter, Nightcrawler lacks something. As it draws to a close, you realise that the best part of it was the build-up and the film peaked too soon. After that, it has less and less to offer, even as it tries hard to expose us to the amoral society we are a part of.

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Susanne Bier directs this very tedious film starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Based on a novel of the same name about a North Carolina timber businessman in the Depression era and his very ambitious wife, the film follows the growth and death of their relationship, and the effects of euphoria and despair on two people.

The problem here is that in some ways we see shades of There Will Be Blood (2007), but very quickly they disappear leaving behind an empty carcass of a film, devoid of depth. The main characters never once become likeable or even identifiable and never once are they compelling. Their motivations and reactions just don't make any sense. The film feels like a dead weight, which you can't wait to get out of - except it drags on for ever. A surprisingly bad offering from some stellar names.

Sunday, 26 October 2014

Dysfunctional families, cheating partners, desperate circumstances and a plethora of topics better left unsaid as they are part of the journey that is this sweet film - This Is Where I Leave You stars Jason Bateman and Tina Fey (both brilliant), Jane Fonda (unbelievably good), Rose Byrne, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton (all very compelling) and many more.

There is no end to the different storylines and plot twists this film has, but at the end of the day, all it leaves you with is the warmth and comfort that family and friends, how ever dysfunctional, bring you. In that, and in the many other lessons learnt through the course of the film, it delivers its message well, and is at times almost profound. Nothing spectacular, but it allows for enough laughs, cringes and tears, for it to be a very successful specimen of its genre. Definitely worth the watch.

Saturday, 20 September 2014

The year is 1984. The place is Thatcher's Britain. While the lesbian and gay community campaigns for its rights in London, a whole other community of Welsh miners is on strike to demand its rights. Pride is based on the true incidents over a 12-month period where the LGBT community took to campaigning for the Welsh miners, who for the longest time did not embrace this support, and were ever so slowly, and only partially, won over. It is a story of strength and courage, of faith and friendship.

This is one of the sweetest films I have seen in a long time. While it takes turns to poke fun at the 'gays', the Welsh, the miners, the elderly, and everyone else, it manages to get the audience to laugh 'with them and not at them'. And without ever getting overly soppy, it tells a touching, emotional story. Masses of credit goes to the director, Matthew Warchus, and writer Stephen Beresford, for putting together a perfect package.

And every performance is excellent, whether it is by the comparatively lesser known Ben Schnetzer, Freddie Fox, Joseph Gilgun, George Mackay, Andrew Scott or the more famous Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton.

In a year of some excellent British films, this is my absolute favourite. Very highly recommended.

Sunday, 20 July 2014

This is a rare moment for me - I've thoroughly enjoyed a Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo film, with newcomer Adam Levine. Begin Again is the story of singer-songwriter Gretta, who catches the attention of down-on-his-luck music executive Dan, when she performs in a heart-broken state in a local bar. And as he pursues her to work on an album, they become unlikely friends, learning about each other's lives, their loves and losses, while singing and recording all over New York City.

There is nothing 'big' about this film. It's a simple story, with simple moments, but it grips and entertains all the way through, with some fun moments and an excellent soundtrack.

The supporting cast (Adam Levine, Catherine Keener, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden, Mos Def, CeeLo Green), and the characters they portray, are highly enjoyable. Mark Ruffalo as the drunk music producer is not doing anything new, but is quite endearing in any case. But it is Keira Knightley who is the biggest surprise in this film. Not only has she delivered a strong, natural performance, without overacting and over-effecting (as she usually does), she has sung most of the songs on the soundtrack - and has done a stellar job. This is my favourite soundtrack album of this year, with every song by Knightley and Levine an absolute delight.

Sunday, 9 March 2014

I'm not known to mince words or withhold my opinions, especially when it comes to film. I don't believe in following the crowd and agreeing with the majority, only to avoid standing out. And yet, I have been guilty of doing exactly that when it comes to this film. My review of 12 Years a Slave, written last month, was a bit of a crowd pleaser. I pretty much wrote what was expected of me, rather than what I actually felt about it.

This is what I wrote:

Steve McQueen is an exceptionally talented man. This is the third feature film that he has directed and like the other two (Hunger 2008, Shame 2011), this one too is unrelenting and fearless in its content and focus. Based on the true story of Solomon Northup, who was a musician and a free man till he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841, the film charts the horrors that he witnessed and cruelty he experienced. There are scenes in the film which are almost unbearable to watch, but the camera never shies away and therefore the audience almost can not look away. Brilliantly directed, brilliantly acted (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt) and well-written - my only question was the importance of this story and why this was special. Northup almost never shows a sign of bravery - and in the end he does to another what was done to him. I understand that times were hard and heroes did not survive - but in that case why is Northup's story worth telling over so many others? Still, as a film, it's perfect!

It took an email from my esteemed friend PB that made me realise that I have, in fact, suppressed quite a few reactions to this film. So, while I still maintain that Nyong'o's and Fassbender's characters and performances were phenomenal, Ejiofor's character and performance had invoked a lot less emotion in me. I had found it difficult to stomach that Northup was living such a comfortable life pre-slavery that it could have been comparable to the lives of upper-class white folk. There were a lot of other details about the slaves and their very effected portrayals that had left me a bit cold. But Brad Pitt's almost holy character had annoyed me the most.

PB questions the historical accuracy of the piece - and classes it as Abolitionist Propaganda. This is not to deny at all the abhorrent inhumanity that was/is slavery. This is only to say that to illustrate a fair point, some truths may have been stretched beyond reality.

My personal tussle is more with the lack of interest I had in Northup's story. I fail to see why this film is important today. I fail to see why I should care about a man who really did not fight the system. He became somewhat part of the evil, to survive. And only after he was safe, did he raise his voice. However brutal and effective the torture scenes were, I still did not connect with the protagonist and I do not understand the relevance of his story today.

So, in fact I did not like 12 Years a Slave. And the main reason I felt compelled to say otherwise, was because it felt wrong to say that a film about slavery wasn't really all that important. I have the highest respect for Steve McQueen and this story was obviously closer to his heart than his previous films - but in choosing Northup's book, I think he has missed a trick. I wish he had chosen a more compelling story to offer his audience an insight into slavery and its ugliness.

Sunday, 16 February 2014

This film has created enough noise and received enough hype, without needing me to add my two-cents' worth. But I still will!

Wolf of Wall Street is the true story of Jordan Belfort, a New York stockbroker, who made millions from corrupt dealings and securities fraud, after he suffered an early career setback due to the 'Black Monday' crash in 1987. The story not only revolves around Jordan's very lucrative and illegal ventures, but also his very debauched lifestyle. Drugs, alcohol, sex - Jordan abused it all. He lived a crazed, decadent, over-the-top life, which simply could not go on. And yet it does.

This is a black comedy - and we are not meant to be judging him. There are no moral lessons to be learnt, truth does not prevail and the honest are not the victors. Belfort today is a motivational speaker and still makes millions - some of them from the royalties of his book that was turned into a motion picture, which has already won the lead actor a Golden Globe! There are lots of silver linings here, but unfortunately, none for the victims of the frauds. Like I said, the film has been delivered in a certain vein - of dark comedy - and it is to the writers' and director's credit that they have not tried to make this serious or moralising at any point. It continues in the same vein and is a refreshing success because of its integrity.

The star of the show, from the first frame to the last is Leonardo di Caprio.
I keep hearing how he has improved as an actor over the years, which upsets me greatly. Because to be honest, he hasn't improved over the years; he's always been brilliant. Five top-notch performances before Titanic (1997) and at least seven great performances since - he has only been type-cast as a pretty face that can't act, because of one blockbuster, technically-sound film that girlfriends forced boyfriends to watch. Let's stop blaming it all on him!
After a long, long time, I have seen di Caprio completely unleashed in this film. If Jordan had no boundaries, neither does Leo. He is completely uninhibited and wild in his portrayal. It's fascinating to watch him on screen and see him deliver a performance that does not falter or disappoint for even a moment.

This is the fifth time that Martin Scorsese and di Caprio have worked together - and each time it's been a very different character, a very different film. But this is possibly their best effort together since The Aviator (2004). Despite all the hype around the film, it actually is that good. The performances, the storytelling, the direction, the cinematography, the music - everything fits and works. At 180 minutes, this may seem like a big one to commit to, but time flies when you're having fun. And this is fun!

Saturday, 25 January 2014

It's been a strange start to the year. I've seen film after film, with multiple nominations and hardly anything that seems to deserve the level of praise. Maybe I've lost the plot but here are my thoughts on some of the recent films:

American Hustle (2013) - With actors like Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner leading the cast, my expectations were sky-high. On paper, this sounds like an extraordinary film. Instead, what I found was a haphazard, oddly-written film that constantly swerved from serious to comedy and didn't actually commit to either. Loosely based on a true story, it revolves around a sting operation orchestrated by FBI agent DiMaso (Cooper), who forces con-artists Rosenfeld (Bale) and Prosser (Adams) to expose politicians involved in illegal dealings, including Mayor Polito (Renner). Along the way, Rosenfeld's alcoholic and unpredictable wife (Lawrence) also gets involved and the plot thickens. To be fair, the actors have done an excellent job individually - but the words coming out of their mouths let down the talent in every scene. David O. Russell has always been a very hit and miss writer-director for me. While I found Three Kings (1999) and The Fighter (2010) almost flawless, I'm confounded by the popularity of the very mediocre I Heart Huckabees (2004) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012). This film has joined the ranks of yet another potentially brilliant film, that really wasn't brilliant at all.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - Such a pretty film; shame about the lack of a soul. Directed by and starring Ben Stiller, this is the story of a dreamer, who constantly goes into a fantasy world to escape from the reality of his very normal life. When his work throws out a challenge, he unwittingly finds himself embroiled in an adventure far greater than any fantasy he could ever have conceived. Based on a 1939 short story of the same name, the Walter Mitty of this age accomplishes far more than the original dreamer character was ever meant to. The visuals are stunning and the transitions between reality and fantasy are absolutely flawless. But once again, it is the story and the writing in general that has let this film down. While trying to be the Life of Pi of 2013, it ends up being confused about whether it is a feel-good, 'believe in yourself' film or an out-and-out comedy - and ends up being neither.

The Railway Man (2013) - Another true story; another historical film. This one is based on an autobiography by Eric Lomax, a British soldier, who was captured by the Japanese in World War II and forced to work on the Thai-Burma Railway with thousands of others. After he got caught with a radio he put together, he was tortured for days and the horrors from that period followed him through his later life. After much persuasion from his wife and his best friend, he embarked on a journey to find his captor and confront him. While this is a moving story and definitely a well-made film, with solid performances by Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Stellan Skarsgard, the question I ask is the same as for the film above. Why is this story important enough to be made now? At the risk of being political, I wonder if it really has to take almost 7 decades to expose war crimes and the horrors of prison torture. If so, will the stories from Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo get told in my lifetime? Probably not.

Grudge Match (2013) - Sylvester Stallone (aka Rocky Balboa) and Robert De Niro (aka Jake La Motta) team up in this film to play a pair of ageing boxers, who come out of retirement for one last match. This would have been such a fun film, if they hadn't decided to take themselves seriously. Which they did. So the film feels stale, forced and quite boring, to be honest. Really not worth the time.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) - Part of Tom Clancy's universe, this film is possibly one of the worst they have made so far. With an absolute lack of tension and suspense, with very awkward direction (Kenneth Branagh) and flat acting (Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh), this was one of the more boring films I saw at the cinema this year.

So some good, some bad, some average - but nothing that stood out so far.

Sunday, 1 December 2013

The Counselor- Oh where do I begin? A film that stars Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz in the main roles - supported by Bruno Ganz, Rosie Perez, Edgar Ramirez and so many other familiar and able actors - can not be, should not be, this terrible. To top it all, the film is written by Cormac McCarthy and directed by Sir Ridley Scott. How then could it go so wrong? Someone needs to explain to McCarthy and Scott that gratuitous violence and weird sexual moments alone do not make for 'good' pulp fiction (whatever that means!) - you need a story that the audience can follow at least. Instead, in The Counselor, character motivation remains a mystery throughout the film, the plot veers crazily all over the place and all the king's horses are not able to put it together, the very weird situations just do not add up and the dialogue is so stilted and downright bizarre that at times I wondered if the actors were laughing inwardly at what they were mouthing. Also, 'Jeezus' is almost every character's highly overused vocal reaction to surprising moments, t-h-r-o-u-g-h-o-u-t the film. Even misspelling the title with a single 'L' in an attempt to make it more pulp, is in parts sad and hilarious. Then there are the character quirks and costumes from hell. And the cheetahs. And the 'Chekhov's Gun' principle bashed to death (a number of characters, through the course of the film, describe a number of grotesque punishments they have heard about - and all of them are later played out on the protagonists). In the entirety of the film, there is one moment of excellent acting, and that is Michael Fassbender's final scene. Everything else is so painful that the film feels at least an hour longer than it actually is (117 minutes only). Please avoid at all costs!Saving Mr Banks - The story of P.L. Travers, who wrote the Mary Poppins stories and Walt Disney - and their difficult relationship when they worked together to create the 1964 film of the same name. In parts funny, and in others a little tragic, this is a very sweet re-telling of a possibly harrowing time for all individuals involved. Regardless of what is fact and what is fiction, the film is beautifully written, brilliantly acted and is very entertaining. One of Emma Thompson's best performances of recent times. Well worth a watch.Thor: The Dark World- Two years since my last Thor review, my feelings about Thor, the character, and Chris Hemsworth, the actor, have changed somewhat - all thanks to Joss Whedon's The Avengersand the more recent Rush. So, I went for this second instalment with a bit more hope. Big mistake! Despite a change of director (from Kenneth Branagh to Alan Taylor), a faster pace and a more realistic feel (as can be for a comic superhero story about a thunder god), this is still the worst series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is rife with bad dialogue, cluttered with terrible characterisations and is simply crap. The action is fairly decent though (save a couple of scenes where the green screen effect is so obvious, I wanted to cry). Mr Hemsworth is definitely getting more comfortable playing this character, which is a relief as he will be doing this for a long, long time. But Natalie Portman's Jane Foster is still forced, Anthony Hopkins's Odin is his worst performance ever and just don't get me started on the other peripheral characters. If this film is to be watched, and that is a very big if, it has to be for Tom Hiddleston's Loki. What Kenneth Branagh didn't do enough, and Joss Whedon relished doing, was bring out the fun in Loki. Of course Whedon not only directed Hiddleston, he also wrote the script. In this film, it seems that the writers have watched all of Joss Whedon's work over and over again and found out where he would throw in some smart lines and then gone ahead and written Loki's character. He is the saving grace - in fact, he is the only grace - in the entire film: thoroughly amusing and exciting. So, big thumbs down to the film, and big thumbs up to more Whedonesque writing.The Butler - A never-ending, oh-so-chronological history lesson on the African-American Civil Rights Movement that stars the who's who of Hollywood and still manages to be dull and boring. Oprah Winfrey is excellent in her first feature film role in many years, but everyone else lacks spark. Still, we will see most of the actors and crew nominated for Oscars of course, as this is one of those topics the Academy feels compelled to honour.Philomena- Sweet, tragic, comical, and true story of Philomena, who goes searching for her son born out of wedlock, that was forcefully taken away from her by the church in the 1950s. Recently disgraced journalist Martin Sixsmith, accompanies her in her search and the film focuses on this journey they undertake - which ultimately affects Martin's life just as much as it affects Philomena's. A typical tragi-comic drama by Stephen Frears, which is good for a Sunday afternoon couch viewing.Gravity- Wow! Gorgeous, breathtaking, nausea-inducing, overpowering cinematic experience. This film may star A-listers Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, but this is not about them at all. It is a writer / director / editor's (Alfonso Cuarón and others) film, with special mention to the cinematographer (Emmanuel Lubezki). There is hardly a story, but the audience stays glued to the edge of their seat, with both hands firmly clasping the arm rests, twisting and turning their bodies as the action on screen unravels. The only film in many years where I had no control at all, as I was trapped to feel what the protagonists were feeling. And all this, despite the fact that I watched it in 2D on an ordinary cinema screen. Highly recommended for the full 3D IMAX experience!

Fifth Estate- This started off so well. Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange. Daniel Brühl as his close associate, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. The story of the notoriously powerful website, WikiLeaks. What could go wrong? A lot, as it turns out! Without giving much away, this starts off as the the story of WikiLeaks, but very quickly turns into a film that not-so-subtly plants doubts about Assange's sanity and his character. Although it isn't an outright propaganda piece, it tries to do a clever job of pretending to be a historical film, that also gives you an insight into Assange's megalomania, his paranoia, his neurosis. The problem with this approach is that the audience doesn't really know whether they are watching the WikiLeaks story or the Assange biopic - and intrinsically related as those may be, they are still very different films. As far as WikiLeaks is concerned, I have no interest in whether Assange dyes his hair, or whether he grew up in a cult, or whether he is a compulsive liar, as those stories have no relevance to what the website achieved in terms of non-mainstream / citizen journalism. Yet, halfway through the film, the focus shifts ever so slightly, and then ever so completely, that I lost all interest. Deeply flawed and very confused, the film holds merit only in that Cumberbatch and Brühl are at the top of their game - and it's interesting to see 'how it all began'. Otherwise, very avoidable.Prisoners- Despite being a huge fan of Hugh Jackman, I have never deluded myself into believing that he is a great actor. He can definitely hold his own, but he rarely delivers beyond that. Prisoners was different. The film starts off with two families getting together for Thanksgiving dinner in a Pennsylvania town and by the end of the evening, the young daughters from both families have gone missing. The fathers (Hugh Jackman and Terrence Howard) react in very different ways. While Howard's Franklin Birch worries and grieves and waits for the police to investigate, Jackman's Keller Dover very quickly takes matters into his own hands and starts on a very slippery slope where justice and revenge are no longer separate entities. As the religious Dover gets more and more desperate, and loses control of his humanity and his faith, we see Jackman deliver that desperation and that naked savagery in a way I did not think he was capable of. He is unbelievably good in this surprisingly powerful film. Another surprise is a very strong performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, who achieved fame through a fantastic cult favourite all those years ago, and has since then had a fairly mediocre career. In this film, he not only has a very interesting role, but he has delivered it to perfection, with characters quirks, et al. The trailer for this film reveals little - but suffice it to say that there is a lot more in store when you watch the film. Definitely recommended.

Blue Jasmine- One of the few Woody Allen films that had me hooked and involved from the first scene to the last. A fresh take on Tennessee Williams's play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the plot revolves around Jasmine (Cate Blanchett), a former socialite who refuses to accept her new semi-destitute status even when she is forced to move in with her 'underprivileged' sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins) and her boyfriend, Chili (Bobby Cannavale). Jasmine's constant flashbacks into a life past with wealthy husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin), her inability to be honest about herself with rich suitor, Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard), and her complete detachment from reality, all spiral out of control as the story progresses. Cate Blanchett is possibly the finest actress in Hollywood, aside from Meryl Streep, and in this film she is once again par excellence. She has played a very dishonest and disturbed character with complete honesty and dignity - and is absolutely mesmerising in every scene. If nothing else, Cate deserves her first Best Actress nod from the Academy for this one. Well worth a watch for the quality of performances from the entire cast.